Calibration for directional display device

ABSTRACT

An information processing device includes: a detector information acquiring unit to acquire detector information relating to a position of a detector; a display control unit to cause a display device capable of varying contents to be displayed according to display directions to perform display of different contents or display at a different timing, for each display direction; a display direction acquiring unit to acquire a display direction in which display is recognizable from the position where the detector is installed based on contents or a timing of display by the display device as detected by the detector; and an associating unit to associate the acquired detector information and the acquired display direction with each other.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation application of InternationalApplication PCT/JP2012/064402 filed on Jun. 4, 2012 and designated theU.S., the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

The present invention relates to a display device capable of varyingcontents to be displayed according to display directions.

BACKGROUND

Conventionally, an interactive multi-view display system is proposedwhich is a system including a multi-view display and a detecting deviceand which detects which user among a plurality of users is trying tointeract with one of displayed images (refer to Japanese PatentApplication Publication No. 2011-070680).

Furthermore, a display system is proposed which includes a multi-viewdisplay panel and which fetches information on a viewer and uses theinformation to control display of a plurality of images at varioussuitable viewing angles (refer to Japanese Patent ApplicationPublication No. 2009-540381).

In addition, an autostereoscopic display device including a calibrationsystem for correcting geometric inconsistencies of projected light isproposed (refer to Japanese Patent Application Publication No.2010-513970). Furthermore, a lenticular stereoscopic video displaydevice including a calibration system for correcting geometricinconsistencies of projected light is proposed (refer to US PatentApplication Publication No. 2010/0033680).

SUMMARY

One aspect of the present disclosure is an information processing deviceincluding: a detector information acquiring unit to acquire detectorinformation relating to a position of a detector installed at apredetermined location; a display control unit to cause a display devicecapable of varying contents to be displayed according to displaydirections to perform display of different contents or display at adifferent timing, for each display direction; a display directionacquiring unit to acquire a display direction in which display isrecognizable from the position where the detector is installed based oncontents or a timing of display by the display device as detected by thedetector; and an associating unit to associate the detector informationacquired with respect to the predetermined location and the displaydirection with each other.

In addition, the present disclosure can also be considered as being amethod that is executed by a computer or a program to be executed on acomputer.

Furthermore, the present disclosure may be embodied by a recordingmedium which is readable by a device such as a computer, a machine, orthe like and on which such a program is recorded.

In this case, a recording medium that is readable by a computer or thelike refers to a recording medium which stores information such as dataand programs by an electric action, a magnetic action, an opticalaction, a mechanical action, or a chemical action and which can be readby a computer or the like.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing a hardware configuration of aninformation processing device according to an embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing how viewed contents differ from one anotherdepending on positions of users viewing a directional display deviceaccording to an embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a sensor unit arrangement whena sensor unit including a monocular camera is used in an embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a sensor unit arrangement whena sensor unit including a stereo camera is used in an embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a sensor unit arrangement whena sensor unit including a combination of a structured infrared lightirradiating device and a camera is used in an embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing how detectors are installed for calibrationaccording to an embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing how detectors are installed for calibrationaccording to an embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a diagram schematically showing a functional configuration ofa calibration device according to a present embodiment;

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a configuration of a calibration tableaccording to an embodiment;

FIG. 10 is a flow chart showing a flow of calibration processingaccording to an embodiment;

FIG. 11 is a diagram schematically showing a functional configuration ofan information processing device according to an embodiment;

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a configuration of a user information tableused in an embodiment;

FIG. 13 is a flow chart showing a flow of user information managementprocessing according to an embodiment;

FIG. 14 is a flow chart showing a flow of directional display controlprocessing according to an embodiment;

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a concept of a multiple viewpoint contentcombiner for combining multiple viewpoint contents to be inputted to alenticular directional display device;

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a concept of multiple viewpoint contentcombination when a lenticular directional display device is used;

FIG. 17 is a diagram schematically showing a functional configurationwhen an information processing device according to an embodimentperforms directional display with priority control;

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing a configuration of a viewer authoritymanagement table according to an embodiment;

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing a configuration of a content levelmanagement table according to an embodiment;

FIG. 20 is a flow chart showing a flow of directional display controlprocessing with priority control according to an embodiment;

FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrating a change in contents according to anembodiment;

FIG. 22 is a diagram showing an example of a display direction in adirectional display device;

FIG. 23 is a diagram showing an example of a state where a display areaparallax has occurred;

FIG. 24 is a diagram showing how detectors are installed for calibrationthat takes a display area parallax into consideration according to anembodiment;

FIG. 25 is a diagram showing a configuration of a calibration table thattakes a display area parallax into consideration according to anembodiment;

FIG. 26 is a flow chart showing a flow of processing for creating acalibration table that takes a display area parallax into considerationaccording to an embodiment;

FIG. 27 is a flow chart showing a flow of processing for performingcontrol processing of directional display that takes a display areaparallax into consideration according to an embodiment;

FIG. 28 is a diagram showing a configuration of a partial area tableused in an embodiment;

FIG. 29 is a diagram showing a concept of multiple viewpoint contentcombination that takes a display area parallax into consideration when alenticular directional display device is used;

FIG. 30 is a diagram showing an example of an arithmetic processingmethod for creating each user's partial area table from a userinformation table; and

FIG. 31 is a diagram showing a configuration of each user's partial areatable created by an arithmetic processing method.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, an embodiment of an information processing device accordingto of the present disclosure will be described with reference to thedrawings.

It should be noted that the embodiment described below merely representsan example of implementing the present disclosure and is not intended tolimit the present disclosure to the specific configuration describedbelow.

When implementing the present disclosure, a specific configuration maybe adopted as appropriate in accordance with each embodiment.

In the present embodiment, the information processing device accordingto the present disclosure may be implemented as a human interface deviceprovided in an operation object such as an elevator, a car navigationdevice, an audio device, an information kiosk terminal, a self-checkoutterminal, and an electronic appliance.

However, objects of application of the present disclosure are notlimited to the examples described above.

<Configuration of Device>

FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing a hardware configuration of aninformation processing device 1 according to the present embodiment.

The information processing device 1 is an information processing deviceto which a central processing unit (CPU) 11, a random access memory(RAM) 12, a read only memory (ROM) 13, an auxiliary storage device 19, adirectional display device 14, a speaker 15, a network interface 16, anda sensor unit 20 are electrically connected. In addition, theinformation processing device 1 is connected to a control device of anobject of operation (an elevator or the like) via the network interface16.

However, when implementing the present disclosure, a device according tothe present disclosure need not necessarily comprise all of thecomponents described above. Components may be omitted, replaced, oradded as appropriate according to each embodiment in a specific hardwareconfiguration of the device.

The CPU 11 is a central processing unit and controls the respectivecomponents of the information processing device 1 including the RAM 12,the auxiliary storage device 19, and an input/output device byprocessing commands and data deployed on the RAM 12, the ROM 13, and thelike. In addition, the RAM 12 is a primary storage device controlled bythe CPU 11, and various commands and data are written onto and read fromthe RAM 12. In other words, the CPU 11, the RAM 12, and the ROM 13constitute a control unit of the information processing device 1.

The auxiliary storage device 19 is a non-volatile storage device.Information that is desirably retained even after shutting down theinformation processing device 1 including an operating system (OS) ofthe information processing device 1 that is loaded onto the RAM 12,various programs for executing the processing presented in the flowcharts described later, and various data to be used by the informationprocessing device 1 are mainly written into and read from the auxiliarystorage device 19. For example, an electrically erasable programmableROM (EEPROM) or a hard disk drive (HDD) can be used as the auxiliarystorage device 19.

The directional display device 14 is a directional display device(hereinafter, referred to as a “uniaxial-directional display device” ora “biaxial-directional display device”) which enables directionaldisplay in a uniaxial direction (for example, a horizontal direction) ora biaxial direction (for example, a horizontal direction and a verticaldirection) by varying pixels to be viewed according to directions inwhich a display area is viewed using techniques such as a lens withwhich multiple viewpoints are obtainable (a lenticular lens, a fly-eyelens, or the like) or a parallax barrier. However, a display device thatis used as the directional display device 14 need only be capable ofvarying contents to be viewed by a user according to viewing directionsand can acquire directionality by adopting other techniques. Inaddition, content projection techniques used by the directional displaydevice 14 are not particularly limited insofar as such techniques cancoexist with a configuration for directional display. For example, aflat panel display, a projector, and the like can be used to projectcontents.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing how viewed contents differ from one anotherdepending on positions of users viewing the directional display device14 according to the present embodiment.

With the information processing device 1 according to the presentembodiment, the directional display device 14, the speaker 15, thesensor unit 20, and the like are mainly used as input/output devices.Under the control of the CPU 11, by outputting data and acceptingoperations by a user, the information processing device 1 providesinformation through the user's five senses and accepts input by the uservia a gesture operation made by the user. Contents inputted from theinput/output devices are recorded on the RAM 12 and processed by the CPU11. In addition to input via the sensor unit 20 and output via thedirectional display device 14, input and output by sound using amicrophone (not shown) and the speaker 15 can be used as interfaces.

In addition, the speaker 15 included in the information processingdevice 1 may be a directional speaker. By conforming an output directionof acoustics from the directional speaker to a display direction of thedirectional display device 14, the information processing device 1 isable to provide both visual and acoustic output of contents that differfor each user in response to operations inputted by a plurality ofusers. The output direction of acoustics from the directional speakermay be determined by referring to user position information in a similarmanner to determining the display direction of the directional displaydevice 14.

In addition to body gestures and hand gestures, gestures may includetransferring a gaze and the like. Furthermore, an operation by the usermay involve an utterance or the like in addition to a gesture. Moreover,an operation by the user may be an action consciously performed by auser or an action unconsciously performed by a user. However, anoperation need not be an action by a user. For example, an operation bya user may be performed using a device that is operated by the user suchas a controller or a mobile terminal device.

The sensor unit 20 recognizes a user or the eyes of the user andacquires information for detecting a gesture made by a user. The sensorunit 20 includes one or a plurality of sensors and adopts aconfiguration capable of simultaneously recognizing the presence andpositions of the users or the eyes of a plurality of users andsimultaneously detecting gestures made by the plurality of users. Inacase where the eyes of a user are recognized, the left and right eyesmay be recognized as objects different from each other. Hereinafter,examples of specific configurations of the sensor unit 20 will bedescribed.

(1) Monocular Camera that Captures Images in at Least One of VisibleLight (RGB) and Infrared Light

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an arrangement example of the sensor unit 20when a sensor unit 20 including a monocular camera that captures imagesin at least one of visible light (RGB) and infrared light is usedaccording to the present embodiment. Based on image information acquiredfrom the monocular camera, the information processing device 1 iscapable of acquiring user position information using image analysistechnology including facial recognition technology or using eye gazerecognition technology, detecting a gesture using moving image analysistechnology, and the like.

(2) Stereo Camera that Captures Images in at Least One of Visible Lightand Infrared Light

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an arrangement example of the sensor unit 20when a sensor unit 20 including a stereo camera that captures images inat least one of visible light and infrared light is used according tothe present embodiment. In addition to comprising functions similar tothose of a monocular camera, the sensor unit 20 can be used as aso-called depth sensor by adopting a method (a passive stereo method) inwhich images captured by the stereo camera are compared and a distanceto a subject is calculated based on a parallax. When a depth sensor isused, depth information can be obtained. Depth information isinformation including a distance (depth) to a captured subject and canbe acquired using a passive stereo method, a structured light projectionmethod, a round-trip propagation time method, or the like.

(3) Combination of Structured Infrared Light Irradiating Device andInfrared Camera

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an arrangement example of the sensor unit 20when a sensor unit 20 including a combination of a structured infraredlight irradiating device (or an infrared emitter) and an infrared camerais used in the present embodiment. In addition to comprising functionssimilar to those of a monocular camera, the sensor unit 20 can be usedas a so-called depth sensor by adopting a method in which reflectedlight of structured infrared light that is irradiated from a structuredinfrared light irradiating device is captured by an infrared camera (astructured light projection method) or a method in which reflected lightof an infrared pulse that is irradiated from an infrared emitter iscaptured by an infrared camera and a time of flight (TOF) of theirradiated infrared pulse is measured (a round-trip propagation timemethod). Furthermore, eye gaze recognition can also be performed byimaging irradiated infrared light that is reflected off of an eye of auser with a camera and judging whether or not an eye gaze of the user isoriented toward a point of view of imaging of the camera based on theimaging result.

However, even when a structured infrared light irradiating device isused, the sensor unit 20 may further include a visible light camera anda camera capable of imaging visible light in addition to infrared lightcan be adopted as the camera for imaging reflected light of the infraredpulses. This is because although position information detection andgesture detection can be performed based on images captured by aninfrared camera, facial recognition can be performed with higheraccuracy when a visible light camera is further provided.

<Calibration>

With the directional display device 14 described above, in order to makedesired contents viewable to a user in conformity to a position of thehead, eyes, or the like (a viewpoint position) of the user, favorably, aviewpoint position is recognized using the sensor unit 20 and contentsto be made viewable from the viewpoint position are outputted for eachdisplay direction corresponding to the viewpoint position. In this case,“display direction” refers to a direction in which, when performingdisplay with the display device according to the present disclosure sothat contents to be viewed are varied according to viewing positions, anobject (a viewer) whose contents are viewable is present as seen from adisplay area of the display device. Such a display direction may beacquired using a calculation formula or a table prepared in advancebased on position information of a viewpoint position or may becalculated by geometric calculation from position information of aviewpoint position and a relative positional relationship between aposition of the directional display device 14 and a position of asensor.

In many cases, increasing a degree of coincidence between a viewpointposition recognized by the sensor unit 20 and a display direction of thedirectional display device 14 requires adjustment. While such adjustmentcan be performed manually, manual adjustment requires extensiveexperience and takes time. Therefore, in the present embodiment,calibration between a viewpoint position recognized by the sensor unit20 and a display direction of the directional display device 14 is to beperformed using a calibration device.

Hereinafter, a device and a method for performing calibration withrespect to the directional display device 14 between a viewpointposition and a display direction of the directional display device 14will be described. For example, the calibration is carried out when thedirectional display device 14 is manufactured, inspected, or installed.

In the present embodiment, due to the information processing device 1being connected to the detector 9 and executing a program forcalibration, the information processing device 1 functions as acalibration device. However, the calibration device may be realized as aseparate information processing device from the information processingdevice 1. In this case, the calibration device is a computer whichincludes a CPU, a RAM, a ROM, and an auxiliary storage device and whichis connected to the information processing device 1 and the detector 9.

The detector 9 is a device capable of detecting display by thedirectional display device 14. Any kind of device may be used as thedetector 9 as long as output from the directional display device 14 canbe detected. The detector 9 may be capable of detection to such a degreethat output contents can be discerned or simply capable of detectingthat output has been performed by the directional display device 14. Inthe present embodiment, a camera is used as the detector 9. The detector9 detects output from the directional display device 14 and notifiesdetected contents to the calibration device (in the present embodiment,the information processing device 1).

The detector 9 used in the present embodiment includes a lamp thatblinks when the detector 9 detects display by the directional displaydevice 14. By being provided at a position where the lamp can berecognized from the sensor unit 20 in a state where the detector 9 isinstalled, the lamp serves to notify the calibration device thatdetection has been performed by the detector 9. However, when thecalibration device is capable of acquiring position information of thedetector 9 related to detection using other means of communication, thedetector 9 need not include the lamp.

FIGS. 6 and 7 are diagrams showing how detectors 9 are installed forcalibration according to the present embodiment. The detectors 9 areinstalled at positions where display by the directional display device14 is viewable. FIG. 6 shows an example of an arrangement in which aplurality of the detectors 9 are lined approximately at equal distancesas seen from the directional display device 14. This arrangement issuitable for calibration for a uniaxial-directional display device. FIG.7 shows an example in which the detectors 9 are arranged at differentdistances as seen from the directional display device 14. Thisarrangement is suitable for calibration for a biaxial-directionaldisplay device. However, the arrangements of the detectors 9 shown inthe diagrams are merely examples and the detectors 9 are favorablyinstalled at a plurality of positions where viewpoints of users canexist in a state in which the directional display device 14 has beeninstalled for operation. Moreover, dashed arrows (α) to (ε) shown in thediagrams indicate respective positions of the detectors 9 (viewpointpositions) as recognized by the sensor unit 20 and solid arrows (A) to(E) in the diagrams indicate directions of the detectors 9 as seen fromthe directional display device 14 (display directions).

FIG. 8 is a diagram schematically showing a functional configuration ofa calibration device according to the present embodiment. Due to the CPU11 interpreting and executing various programs deployed on the RAM 12,the information processing device 1 according to the present embodimentfunctions as a calibration device including a detector informationacquiring unit 40, a display control unit 39, a display directionacquiring unit 41, and an associating unit 42. In addition, although anexample in which all of these functions are executed by ageneral-purpose CPU 11 is explained in the present embodiment, a part ofor all of these functions may be realized by one or a plurality ofdedicated processors.

The detector information acquiring unit 40 acquires detector informationof a detector 9 installed in a range from which display by thedirectional display device 14 is viewable. In this case, detectorinformation includes information relating to a position of the detector9 acquired using the sensor unit 20. In addition, information relatingto a position of the detector 9 includes, for example, informationindicating a direction of the detector 9 from the sensor unit 20.

The display control unit 39 according to the present embodiment controlsdisplay contents, display directions, and the like of the directionaldisplay device 14. In calibration processing, the display control unit39 causes the directional display device 14 to perform display such thatdisplay contents or a display timing differs for each display direction.

The display direction acquiring unit 41 acquires a display direction inwhich display is recognizable from the position where the detector 9 isinstalled based on display contents or a display timing of thedirectional display device 14 as detected by the detector 9.

The associating unit 42 associates the acquired detector information andthe acquired display direction with each other.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a configuration of a calibration tableaccording to the present embodiment. The calibration table storesposition information of an installation position (viewpoint position)and a display direction as detected by the detector 9 in associationwith each other for each installation position of the detector 9. Thecalibration table is generated by calibration processing and issubsequently referred to in order to determine a display direction foreach viewpoint position. Moreover, position information of a viewpointposition may be expressed by a direction (angle or the like) as seenfrom the sensor unit 20 or the directional display device 14, acombination of a direction (angle or the like) and a distance, a vector,or a coordinate.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart showing a flow of calibration processingaccording to the present embodiment. Hereinafter, a flow of calibrationprocessing according to the present embodiment will be described withreference to the flow chart. Moreover, specific contents, a sequence ofprocessing, and the like shown in the flow charts in the presentembodiment merely represent one example of implementing the presentdisclosure. Favorably, specific processing contents, a processingsequence, and the like are appropriately selected for each embodiment.

In step S001, display by the directional display device 14 and detectionof the display by the detector 9 are performed. The display control unit39 causes the directional display device 14 to perform display in oneuninspected display direction among the display directions that aredisplayable by the directional display device 14. In this case, thecalibration processing shown in the present flow chart is performedwhile switching among display directions as will be described later instep S005. Therefore, the display by the display control unit 39 is tobe performed at a different timing for each display direction. Inaddition, the detector 9 performs detection of display while the displayis being performed. Subsequently, the processing proceeds to step S002.

In step S002, position information of the detector 9 having detected thedisplay is acquired. The detector information acquiring unit 40 acquiresa notification indicating that display has been detected from thedetector 9 that detected the display in step S001. In the presentembodiment, the detector 9 having detected display by the directionaldisplay device 14 notifies the calibration device that the display hasbeen detected by performing a display (for example, blinking of a lampprovided on the detector 9) signifying detection of the display. Thecalibration device analyzes an image acquired by the sensor unit 20 andrecognizes the detector 9 performing display signifying that display hasbeen detected. Due to the image analysis, the detector informationacquiring unit 40 receives the notification from the detector 9 havingdetected display by the directional display device 14. Furthermore, thedetector information acquiring unit 40 acquires detector informationthat is information relating to the position of the detector 9. In thiscase, the detector information includes position information of thedetector 9 acquired by analyzing the image acquired by the sensor unit20. Subsequently, the processing proceeds to step S003.

In step S003, a display direction related to detection is acquired. Whenthere is a detector 9 having detected display in step S001, the displaydirection acquiring unit 41 acquires the display direction in which thedisplay had been performed in step S001 as a display direction in whichdisplay is recognizable from the position where the detector 9 isinstalled. As described in step S001, the display by the display controlunit 39 is performed at a different display timing for each displaydirection. Therefore, the display direction acquiring unit 41 canacquire a display direction in which the display had been performedbased on a timing at which the display had been detected by the detector9. Subsequently, the processing proceeds to step S004.

In step S004, the position information of the detector 9 and the displaydirection are associated with each other. The associating unit 42associates the position information of the detector 9 acquired in stepS002 and the display direction in which the display had been performedin step S001 with each other and records the associated positioninformation and display direction in the calibration table.Subsequently, the processing proceeds to step S005.

In step S005, a judgment is made on whether or not there is anuninspected display direction. The calibration device judges whether ornot there is a display direction which is an inspection object but whichis uninspected. When it is judged that there is an uninspected displaydirection, the processing proceeds to step S001. In other words, in theprocessing shown in the present flow chart, the processing of steps S001to S004 is repeated until inspection is performed for all displaydirections that are objects of the inspection. On the other hand, whenit is judged that there is no uninspected display direction, theprocessing shown in the present flow chart is completed.

Due to a calibration table being generated by the calibration processingdescribed above, when causing desired contents to be viewable by a useror the eyes of a user recognized by the sensor unit 20, the directionaldisplay device 14 can obtain an accurate corresponding display directionby simply searching the calibration table based on position informationof a position of the recognized user or the eyes of the recognized user(viewpoint position).

Alternatively, the display control unit 39 may perform display controlbased on display control information prepared in advance which indicatesa relationship between a display direction and display contents or adisplay timing, and the display direction acquiring unit 41 may acquirea display direction in which display is recognizable from the positionwhere the detector 9 is installed based on display contents or a displaytiming by referring to the display control information.

For example, the display control unit 39 may cause the directionaldisplay device 14 to perform display simultaneously in a plurality ofdisplay directions by altering display contents (colors or images) foreach display direction. In this case, by having the calibration deviceretain display control information indicating a relationship between adisplay direction and display contents, the display control informationcan be searched based on the display contents detected by the detector 9and a display direction of the display detected by each detector 9 canbe identified.

In addition, when display by the directional display device 14 isdetected by a plurality of detectors 9, a weighted average value of theposition information of the plurality of detectors 9 may be stored asposition information in the calibration table. A configuration may beadopted in which a gap between the detectors 9 is complemented linearlyor complemented using a suitable approximation curve. A gap betweentable elements may also be complemented and a weighted average ofdisplay directions may be calculated.

Moreover, in the calibration processing described above with referenceto the flow chart, a viewpoint position where detection of display hadbeen performed is informed by causing a lamp or the like of a detector 9to blink upon detection and acquiring position information of thedetector 9 at which blinking of the lamp or the like had occurred.However, instead of such a method, a viewpoint position where displayhad been detected may be informed according to a detector identifiernotified by the detector 9 having detected the display. In this case,the detector 9 having detected the display performs notification thatdisplay has been detected by notifying the detector identifier to thecalibration device, and the calibration device acquires positioninformation of the detector 9 by searching a table that associates thedetector identifier and position information of a detector installationposition (viewpoint position) with each other using the detectoridentifier.

As a method of associating a detector identifier and a detectorinstallation position (viewpoint position) with each other, for example,a method may be adopted in which a different label (a detectoridentifier or the like) is attached to a front surface of each detector9, the detector identifier is acquired by analyzing an image obtainedfrom the sensor unit 20, and the detector identifier and positioninformation of the detector 9 are associated with each other.Alternatively, a method may be adopted in which a newly added detector 9is detected by the sensor unit 20 every time a detector 9 is installedand position information of a detected position (viewpoint position) isassociated with a detector identifier of the added detector 9. When sucha method is adopted, in the calibration processing, the detector 9notifies the fact that detection had been performed as well as its owndetector identifier to the calibration device.

<Directional Display>

FIG. 11 is a diagram schematically showing a functional configuration ofthe information processing device 1 according to the present embodiment.Due to the CPU 11 interpreting and executing various programs deployedon the RAM 12, the information processing device 1 according to thepresent embodiment functions as an information processing device 1comprising an image information acquiring unit 31, a positioninformation acquiring unit 32, a user information retaining unit 33, auser information registering unit 34, a user information updating unit35, a user information deleting unit 36, a user operation detecting unit37, a display direction determining unit 38, and a display control unit39. In addition, although an example in which all of these functions areexecuted by a general-purpose CPU 11 is explained in the presentembodiment, a part of or all of these functions may be realized by oneor a plurality of dedicated processors.

The image information acquiring unit 31 uses the sensor unit 20 toacquire image information including captured images in a range fromwhich the directional display device 14 is viewable. In addition, theimage information may include depth information acquired using a sensorunit 20 capable of measuring depths.

The position information acquiring unit 32 acquires position informationof a plurality of objects (for example, the head of a user or the eyesof a user) within a range from which the directional display device 14is viewable by analyzing image information. For example, user positioninformation may be acquired by referring to depth information includedin image information. Using depth information to acquire user positioninformation enables an anteroposterior relation between users in a depthdirection to be readily grasped. Moreover, in the present embodiment,while user position information is to be acquired by analyzing imageinformation, other methods may be adopted for acquiring user positioninformation. For example, user position information may be acquiredusing a sensor mat installed in a range from which the directionaldisplay device 14 is viewable, positional detection using sound waves,and the like.

The user information retaining unit 33 retains user informationincluding user position information acquired by the position informationacquiring unit 32 in a user information table on the RAM 12 or theauxiliary storage device 19.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a configuration of the user informationtable used in the present embodiment. User information is informationfor managing users who are recognized by the information processingdevice 1 and who exist in a range from which the directional displaydevice 14 is viewable, and is stored in the user information table. Userinformation includes user identification information, user positioninformation, a user area map, and a non-discovery counter.

When user information relating to user position information acquired bythe position information acquiring unit 32 is not retained in the userinformation retaining unit 33, the user information registering unit 34registers and causes the user information retaining unit 33 to retainuser information including the user position information.

When user position information acquired by the position informationacquiring unit 32 is retained in the user information retaining unit 33,the user information updating unit 35 updates the user information usingthe user position information. With the information processing device 1according to the present disclosure, a user can be tracked and a displaydirection can be adjusted so as to follow a latest user position byupdating user position information.

When the user position information retained by the user informationretaining unit 33 has not been updated, the user information deletingunit 36 deletes user information relating to the user positioninformation.

The user operation detecting unit 37 detects an operation by a user bydetecting, for each user, a predetermined gesture (action) thatcorresponds to the operation by the user from image information.However, while a case where an operation by a user is performed by agesture is described in the present embodiment, an operation by a userneed not necessarily be a gesture. For example, an operation by a usermay be performed using a device operated by the user such as acontroller or a mobile terminal device.

The display direction determining unit 38 determines a viewable displaydirection when the directional display device 14 is viewed from aposition of an object based on a search result of a calibration tableusing position information.

As described earlier, the display control unit 39 according to thepresent embodiment controls display contents, display directions, andthe like of the directional display device 14. In this case, based onposition information of an object acquired by the position informationacquiring unit 32, the display control unit 39 outputs contents for theobject so as to be viewable from a position indicated by the positioninformation. In other words, the information processing device 1according to the present embodiment is enabled to function as adirectional input/output device by including the directional displaydevice 14 and the position information acquiring unit 32 that acquiresposition information of an object within a range from which thedirectional display device 14 is viewable.

Hereinafter, a flow of processing according to the present embodimentwill be described with reference to the flow charts. Moreover, specificcontents, a sequence of processing, and the like shown in the flowchartsin the present embodiment merely represent one example of implementingthe present disclosure. Favorably, specific processing contents, aprocessing sequence, and the like may be appropriately selected for eachembodiment.

FIG. 13 is a flow chart showing a flow of user information managementprocessing according to the present embodiment. The processing shown inthe present flow chart is continuously or periodically executed when theinformation processing device 1 is running.

In step S101, image information is acquired. The image informationacquiring unit 31 acquires image information captured using the sensorunit 20. The image information acquired at this point may be a movingimage which corresponds to a predetermined period of time and which hasbeen clipped from a captured moving image or a still image whichcorresponds to a single frame and which has been clipped from a capturedmoving image. Whether to use a moving image or a still image as theacquired image information is favorably determined according to a systemof image recognition technology adopted in the processing of steps S102to S104. For example, when a system which detects an object movinginside an image as a user is adopted, image information including amoving image is acquired. In addition, image information acquired atthis point may contain depth information indicating a distance (depth)from a point of view of imaging of the sensor unit 20 of each pixel in acaptured image. Subsequently, the processing proceeds to step S102.

In step S102, a user's head is detected. Based on the image informationacquired in step S101, the position information acquiring unit 32detects a user's head from an image contained in the image information.However, an object of detection need only be used as a reference of aviewpoint position. For example, when desiring to have left and righteyes of a user view different contents (stereoscopic contents or thelike), the user's left and right eyes are objects of detection. For thedetection of the user's head, generally-used image analysis technologyincluding facial recognition technology can be used. In addition, imageanalysis technology of any system may be used. Therefore, a descriptionof details of the detection of the user's head will be omitted. Forexample, the position information acquiring unit 32 can detect a user'shead by retaining a positional relationship between the eyes and themouth or the like and extracting a feature with the positionalrelationship from an image.

In addition, when depth information is included in image information,depth information may be used to detect a user's head. Referring todepth information enables a distance (depth) from a point of view ofimaging of the sensor unit 20 of each pixel in a captured image to begrasped. As a result, the position information acquiring unit 32 canreadily extract a silhouette portion of a user, and by identifying aportion corresponding to the head from the silhouette portion of theuser, the position information acquiring unit 32 can detect the user'shead.

Once the user's head is detected, the processing proceeds to step S103.Moreover, while a user's head is detected and used as a reference formanaging the user's position in the present embodiment, a detectionobject from image information need only be a portion of the body thatcan be used as a reference when indicating the user's position and isnot limited to the user's head. In addition, eye gaze recognitiontechnology can used to detect a user's head.

In step S103, user position information is acquired. The positioninformation acquiring unit 32 acquires a position of the user's head forall user areas detected in step S102 as user position information. Whendesiring to have left and right eyes of a user view different contents(stereoscopic contents or the like), different user position informationis to be acquired for the left and right eyes of the user. Subsequently,the processing proceeds to step S104.

In step S104, a user area is acquired. Based on the image informationacquired in step S101, the position information acquiring unit 32acquires an area in which the user is captured in the captured image (inother words, the silhouette portion of the user in the captured image).For the detection of a user area, generally-used image analysistechnology can be used. In addition, image analysis technology of anysystem may be used. Therefore, a description of details of the detectionof a user area will be omitted. For example, the position informationacquiring unit 32 can acquire a user area by retaining a human-shapedsilhouette in advance and extracting an edge that approximates thesilhouette from an image. The position information acquiring unit 32generates a user area map by mapping the acquired user area ontoinformation corresponding to the captured image. For example, a userarea map is information obtained by mapping pixels on which the user iscaptured by ‘1’ and mapping pixels on which the user is not captured by‘0’ on a binary image with the same size as the captured image.

In addition, when depth information is included in image information,depth information may be used to acquire a user area. Referring to depthinformation enables a distance (depth) from a point of view of imagingof the sensor unit 20 of each pixel in a captured image to be grasped.Therefore, according to depth information, a silhouette portion of auser can be readily extracted as a user area. Once a user area isacquired, the processing proceeds to step S105.

In step S105, a judgment is made as to whether or not user informationrelating to the acquired user position information and the user area mapis already registered. The information processing device 1 judgeswhether or not user information including the user position informationacquired in step S103 and the user area map acquired in step S104 isalready registered in the user information table. Whether or notacquired user information is already registered can be judged bycomparing the acquired user information with user information that hasalready been registered. More specifically, by calculating a differencebetween the acquired user information and the user information that hasalready been registered, user information can be judged to be alreadyregistered when the difference is equal to or lower than a predeterminedthreshold and judged to be unregistered when the difference exceeds thepredetermined threshold. When the acquired user information is judged tobe already registered, the processing proceeds to step S106. On theother hand, when the acquired user information is judged not to bealready registered, the processing proceeds to step S107.

In step S106, user information is updated. The user information updatingunit 35 updates user information relating to the user by using the userinformation acquired in steps S103 and S104. As described earlier, theprocessing shown in the present flow chart is continuously orperiodically executed when the information processing device 1 isrunning. Therefore, the user position information and the user area mapincluded in the user information are updated to latest information inthe present step. In addition, by referring to the user positioninformation and the user area map included in the user information, theuser operation detecting unit 37 can detect a gesture of the like from alatest user area and the display control unit 39 can perform display bythe directional display device 14 so as to be viewable from a latestuser position. Subsequently, the processing proceeds to step S108.

In step S107, user information is registered. The user informationregistering unit 34 newly generates user information, includes the userposition information acquired in step S103 and the user area mapacquired in step S104 in the user information, and registers the userinformation in the user information table. As described earlier, theprocessing shown in the present flow chart is continuously orperiodically executed when the information processing device 1 isrunning. Therefore, the user information registered at this point isupdated in step S106 as the processing described in the present flowchart is repetitively performed. Subsequently, the processing proceedsto step S108.

In step S108, a judgment is made on whether or not processing has beencompleted on all acquired user information. The information processingdevice 1 judges whether updating or registration of all user informationacquired in steps S103 and S104 has been completed. When updating orregistration of all acquired user information has been completed, theprocessing proceeds to step S109. When there is user information thathas not been updated or registered, the processing proceeds to stepS105. In other words, according to the processing shown in the presentflow chart, the processing of steps S105 to S108 are repetitivelyperformed until updating or registration of all user informationacquired in steps S103 and S104 has been completed.

In step S109, the non-discovery counter is incremented for registereduser information that has not been updated. The information processingdevice 1 identifies, from user information already registered in theuser information table, user information not updated in step S106 or, inother words, user information relating to a user who had not beendetected from image information even though the user information isalready registered in the user information table. In addition, theinformation processing device 1 adds 1 to the non-discovery counterincluded in the identified user information. The non-discovery counteris reset to 0 (zero) when the user information is newly registered andwhen the user information is updated. In addition, as described earlier,the processing shown in the present flow chart is continuously orperiodically executed when the information processing device 1 isrunning. In other words, the non-discovery counter is informationindicating the number of times a user related to user information isconsecutively not detected from image information in the userinformation management processing shown in the present flow chart. Whenupdating of the non-discovery counter has been completed for all userinformation that has not been updated, the processing proceeds to stepS110.

In step S110, user information whose non-discovery counter exceeds apredetermined threshold is deleted. The user information deleting unit36 deletes user information whose non-discovery counter exceeds apredetermined threshold (for example, five) from user informationalready registered in the user information table. Accordingly, userinformation relating to a user who is not detected for a predeterminednumber of times or more can be deleted from the user information tableon the assumption that the user has departed from the imaging range ofthe sensor unit 20. Subsequently, the processing shown in the presentflow chart is completed. However, as described earlier, the processingshown in the present flow chart is continuously or periodically executedwhen the information processing device 1 is running. Therefore, when theinformation processing device 1 is running, acquisition of imageinformation, acquisition of user positions, and updating, registration,and deletion of user information are continuously or periodicallyexecuted.

FIG. 14 is a flow chart showing a flow of directional display controlprocessing according to the present embodiment. The processing shown inthe present flow chart is continuously or periodically executed when theinformation processing device 1 is running.

In step S201, current position information of a user is acquired. Thedisplay direction determining unit 38 acquires user position informationof a plurality of users within a range from which the directionaldisplay device 14 is viewable from the user information.

In step S202, a display direction corresponding to a current position ofa user is determined. The display direction determining unit 38 searchesa display direction associated with position information of a viewpointposition which matches or which is nearest to the position indicated bythe user position information acquired in step S201 from the calibrationtable and determines the searched display direction as a displaydirection of display contents for the user. However, when positioninformation which matches or sufficiently approximates (difference issmaller than a threshold) the user position information is not found inthe calibration table, the display direction may be determined bycomplement processing based on plurality of pieces of positioninformation and display directions stored in the calibration table. Oncethe display direction is detected, the processing proceeds to step S203.

In steps S203 and S204, contents prepared for each user are acquired andthe contents are outputted in a display direction corresponding to eachuser. In order to make different contents viewable by each user, thedisplay control unit 39 acquires contents prepared for each user fromthe RAM 12 or the auxiliary storage device 19 (step S203). In addition,for each user, the display control unit 39 outputs contents for the userin the display direction determined in step S202 (step S204).Subsequently, the processing shown in the present flow chart iscompleted.

Due to execution of the user information management processing and thedirectional display control processing described above, user informationis updated to latest information and the information processing device 1can perform display by the display device so as to be viewable from alatest user position. In other words, with the present embodiment, byupdating user position information, a user can be tracked and a displaydirection can be adjusted so as to follow the latest user position.

A specific example where contents are outputted in a display directioncorresponding to each user when a lenticular directional display deviceis used will now be described.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a concept of a multiple viewpoint contentcombiner for combining multiple viewpoint contents to be inputted to alenticular directional display device. The display control unit 39prepares a plurality of contents (in the example shown in FIG. 15,contents (A) to (C)) and inputs the contents to a multiple viewpointcontent combiner. The multiple viewpoint content combiner combines theinputted plurality of contents and causes the combined contents to bedisplayed by the directional display device. Accordingly, thedirectional display device displays contents that differ from oneanother in each display direction.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a concept of multiple viewpoint contentcombination when a lenticular directional display device is used. Whencombining multiple viewpoint contents to be inputted to auniaxial-directional display device that enables multiple viewpoints tobe obtained in a horizontal direction, the display control unit 39combines multiple viewpoint contents by respectively vertically slicinginput contents prepared for each display direction (in the example shownin FIG. 16, the contents A, B, and C) and sequentially arranging thevertical slices. Hereinafter, arrangement orders of the contents A, B,and C will be referred to as “offsets”. In the example shown in FIG. 16,offsets of 0, 1, or 2 are added to the contents A, B, and C. Each offsetcorresponds to each specific display direction based on characteristicsof a lenticular lens and a display device.

In the case of a lenticular system, since a plurality of contentsdisplayed in each display direction are combined into one content towhich an offset is added, a display direction is determined by anoffset. Therefore, display directions in the calibration table may beexpressed by offsets or a conversion table between display directionsand offsets may be additionally prepared. Furthermore, as a displaydirection, an angle expression of a temporal offset or a direction maybe used depending on a system of the directional display device.

The example described above with reference to FIGS. 15 and 16 representsa case of performing directional display in a horizontal direction(uniaxial direction) by a lenticular system. There are various methodsof combining multiple viewpoints such as a biaxial combination methodinvolving horizontal and vertical axes when using a fly's eye lens and atime division combination method when using a flexible barrier system.Therefore, in addition to offsets, temporal offsets of vectors ordisplay frames and the like may be used in accordance with combinationmethods as parameters corresponding to a display direction.

<Directional Display with Priority Control>

With the directional display device 14 as disclosed in the presentembodiment, when contents that differ from one another are displayed toa plurality of users, a user may possibly move and enter a range of aviewpoint position from which contents for another user is viewable (inother words, enter a range of a same display direction as another user).

In the present embodiment, directional display with priority control maybe performed in such situations in order to appropriately controldisplay contents for each viewer. In the directional display withpriority control according to the present embodiment, display ofcontents is not permitted to a user who does not have authority to viewthe contents.

In the present embodiment, a user can log into the system using a useraccount prepared in advance. A viewer authority is associated with auser account. Once logged in, the user can cause contents for which theuser has viewing authority to be displayed in a display direction of thedirectional display device 14 that is viewable by the user. Display in adisplay direction that is viewable by the user is as described earlierwith reference to the flow chart shown in FIG. 14.

In the present embodiment, a viewable authority level is respectivelyset to contents, and contents to which is set a viewable authorityequivalent to or lower than a viewer authority of a user are displayedso as to be viewable to the user having the viewer authority. Moreover,a user not logged in may be treated as someone having a lowest level ofviewer authority (a so-called guest user). In addition, as a loginmethod, besides a method in which the user operation detecting unit 37detects a gesture (a pass gesture) set in advance for each user, aninput method using an interface for inputting a user name and a passwordmay be adopted.

FIG. 17 is a diagram schematically showing a functional configurationwhen the information processing device 1 according to the presentembodiment performs directional display with priority control. Due tothe CPU 11 interpreting and executing various programs deployed on theRAM 12, the information processing device 1 according to the presentembodiment functions as an information processing device 1 comprising apositional relationship detecting unit 43 and a viewing authorityjudging unit 44 in addition to the image information acquiring unit 31,the position information acquiring unit 32, the user informationretaining unit 33, the user information registering unit 34, the userinformation updating unit 35, the user information deleting unit 36, theuser operation detecting unit 37, the display direction determining unit38, and the display control unit 39 described with reference to FIG. 11.In addition, although an example in which all of these functions areexecuted by a general-purpose CPU 11 is explained in the presentembodiment, a part of or all of these functions may be realized by oneor a plurality of dedicated processors.

The display control unit 39 causes the directional display device 14 toperform display of contents of each user so as to be viewable from aposition indicated by position information of each user. In this case,based on position information of an object acquired by the positioninformation acquiring unit 32, the display control unit 39 outputscontents for the object so as to be viewable from a position indicatedby the position information. However, in control processing ofdirectional display with priority control, when a predeterminedpositional relationship is detected by the positional relationshipdetecting unit 43, the display control unit 39 causes the directionaldisplay device 14 to stop display of contents for which at least one ofa plurality of users present in a same display direction does not haveviewing authority among the contents.

The positional relationship detecting unit 43 detects that positionsindicated by position information of a plurality of users are in apredetermined positional relationship in which contents displayed by thedirectional display device 14 in a same display direction are viewable.

The viewing authority judging unit 44 judges whether or not each userhas viewing authority with respect to contents that are viewable by theuser.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing a configuration of a viewer authoritymanagement table according to the present embodiment. The viewerauthority management table stores, for each user, a login ID required bythe user to log into a system that controls display of contents by thedirectional display device 14 and information indicating a viewerauthority of the user in association with each other.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing a configuration of a content levelmanagement table according to the present embodiment. The content levelmanagement table stores, for each content, a content ID and a viewableauthority that is required in order to view a content related to thecontent ID in association with each other.

Moreover, in addition to adopting a configuration in which the viewableauthority of contents is set per file, a configuration may be adopted inwhich a structured document in XML or the like is used so that viewableauthority can be set for each component of contents (sub-content).Accordingly, the information processing device 1 can configure contentsto be displayed to a user with a plurality of sub-contents and canperform display control (non-display, alternative display) for eachsub-content.

FIG. 20 is a flow chart showing a flow of directional display controlprocessing with priority control according to the present embodiment.The processing shown in the present flowchart is executed in place ofnormal directional display control processing described with referenceto FIG. 14 when control processing of directional display with prioritycontrol is performed.

In steps S301 to S303, current position information of a user isacquired, a display direction corresponding to a current position of theuser is acquired, and contents prepared for each user are acquired.Since processing shown in steps S301 to S303 is approximately similar tothe processing in steps S201 to S203 of the directional display controlprocessing described with reference to FIG. 14, a description thereofwill be omitted. Subsequently, the processing proceeds to step S304.

In step S304, the presence or absence of a user whose display directionoverlaps is judged. The positional relationship detecting unit 43detects that a plurality of users are in a predetermined positionalrelationship by comparing the display directions of the respective usersacquired in step S302 and judging whether or not a user exists who is adifferent user but shares the same (or has a proximal) displaydirection. When a user whose display direction overlaps does not exist,the processing advances to step S306. On the other hand, when a userwhose display direction overlaps exists, if display of contents per useris to be performed as usual, a situation may occur in which the contentsare inadvertently displayed to a user whose viewer authority is lowerthan the viewable authority for the contents. Therefore, when a userwhose display direction overlaps exists, the processing advances to stepS305.

In step S305, contents are outputted in a display directioncorresponding to each user. However, with respect to a user whosedisplay direction overlaps, display of contents for which the user doesnot have viewing authority is stopped. The viewing authority judgingunit 44 judges a presence or absence of viewing authority of each userwith respect to contents viewable by the user by identifying a lowestauthority among a user for which overlapping of display directions hasbeen detected in step S304 and comparing the lowest authority with aviewable authority of contents displayed in a display direction relatedto the user. In addition, while the display control unit 39 outputs, peruser, contents for the user, by not outputting contents that are notviewable even if the authority for the contents is the lowest, displayof contents for which at least any of the plurality of users in a samedisplay direction does not have viewing authority is stopped.Accordingly, the contents can be prevented from being viewed by a userwithout viewing authority. Subsequently, the processing shown in thepresent flow chart is completed.

In step S306, contents are outputted in a display directioncorresponding to each user. The display control unit 39 outputs, peruser, contents for the user. Subsequently, the processing shown in thepresent flow chart is completed.

FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrating a change in contents according to thepresent embodiment. FIG. 21 shows how displayed contents are changedwhen a user with authority level 1 enters a display direction in whichcontents with authority level 3 are displayed so that level 1 contentsare displayed in the display direction of level 3 contents.

Moreover, while display of contents not viewable even with the lowestauthority is stopped when a predetermined positional relationship isdetected in the flow chart described above, other display control may beadopted instead of such control. For example, when a predeterminedpositional relationship is detected, the display control unit 39 mayreplace displayed contents with alternative contents that are viewableeven with the lowest authority. In addition, when a predeterminedpositional relationship is detected, the display control unit 39 maystop display of all contents in the direction.

<Calibration in Consideration of Display Area Parallax>

FIG. 22 is a diagram showing an example of a display direction in thedirectional display device 14. The directional display device 14 shownin FIG. 22 is capable of outputting contents that differs from oneanother in five directions including display directions 1 to 5. With thedirectional display device 14 described above, when a size of an entiredisplay area in which contents are displayed is too large to ignore withrespect to a distance from the display area to a user, directions(angles) from respective partial areas (a) to (e) on the display area tothe user significantly differ from one another. Therefore, with thedirectional display device 14, a situation may occur in which consistentdisplay cannot be performed to a user when the user approaches a displayarea. Hereinafter, a difference in display directions as viewed by usersdue to a difference in directions of the users from respective partialareas on the display area (a difference in angles with respect to planesof the partial areas) will be referred to as a “display area parallax”.

FIG. 23 is a diagram showing an example of a state where a display areaparallax has occurred. In the situation shown in FIG. 23, a user 1 viewscontents outputted with the front of the directional display device 14set as display directions with respect to partial areas (a) and (b) butviews contents outputted with respectively different directions set asdisplay directions with respect to partial areas (c), (d), and (e). Inthis case, in order to produce display that is consistent across theentire display area of the directional display device 14, contents aredisplayed by changing the display direction of contents for the user 1for each partial area. In the example shown in FIG. 23, for instance, inorder to display consistent contents to a user 2, control is performedsuch that partial area (a)-display direction (E), partial area(b)-display direction (D), partial area (c)-display direction (C),partial area (d)-display direction (B), and partial area (e)-displaydirection (A).

Therefore, the present embodiment addresses the problem of display areaparallax described above by performing calibration for each partial areaof the directional display device 14.

FIG. 24 is a diagram showing how detectors 9 are installed forcalibration that takes a display area parallax into considerationaccording to the present embodiment. While the detectors 9 are installedat positions from which display by the directional display device 14 isviewable, in the present embodiment, the detectors 9 are furtherinstalled at positions where distances from a display area are changedeven though the positions are in an approximately same direction as seenfrom the display area. This is because, even with a viewpoint positionin the same direction as seen from the display area, depending on apartial area, an angle (display direction) as seen from the partial areamay change if a distance from the partial area to the viewpoint positionchanges.

In a similar manner to the calibration device described with referenceto FIG. 8, a calibration device for calibration that takes a displayarea parallax into consideration includes a detector informationacquiring unit 40, a display control unit 39, a display directionacquiring unit 41, and an associating unit 42 due to the CPU 11interpreting and executing various programs deployed on the RAM 12.

FIG. 25 is a diagram showing a configuration of a calibration table thattakes a display area parallax into consideration according to thepresent embodiment. While the position information described withreference to FIG. 9 and display direction are associated with each otherfor each installation position of the detector 9 in a calibration tablecreated by calibration that does not take a display area parallax intoconsideration, an identifier of a partial area is further associatedwith position information and display direction in the calibration tablethat takes a display area parallax into consideration. Moreover, while acalibration table that does not take a display area parallax intoconsideration may adopt a parameter representing only a direction from apredetermined reference (for example, the sensor unit 20 or thedirectional display device 14) as position information, a parameter onlyrepresenting a direction is insufficient as position information in acalibration table that takes a display area parallax into consideration.Therefore, with a calibration table that takes a display area parallaxinto consideration, a parameter that also enables a distance from thepredetermined reference to be determined is adopted as positioninformation.

FIG. 26 is a flow chart showing a flow of processing for creating acalibration table that takes a display area parallax into considerationaccording to the present embodiment. Moreover, specific contents, asequence, and the like of the processing merely represent one example.Favorably, specific processing contents, a processing sequence, and thelike are appropriately selected.

In step S401, display by the directional display device 14 and detectionof the display by the detector 9 are performed. The display control unit39 causes the directional display device 14 to perform display in oneuninspected combination among “combinations of a partial area and adisplay direction” of the directional display device 14. In this case,the display by the display control unit 39 is to be performed at adifferent timing for each “combination of a partial area and a displaydirection”. In addition, the detector 9 performs detection of displaywhile the display is being performed. Subsequently, the processingproceeds to step S402.

In step S402, position information of the detector 9 having detected thedisplay is acquired. Since processing shown in step S402 isapproximately similar to the processing in step S002 of the calibrationprocessing described with reference to FIG. 10, a description thereofwill be omitted. Subsequently, the processing proceeds to step S403.

In step S403, a “combination of a partial area and a display direction”related to the detection is acquired. When there is a detector 9 havingdetected display in step S401, the display direction acquiring unit 41acquires the “combination of a partial area and a display direction” inwhich the display had been performed in step S401 as a combination inwhich display is recognizable from the position where the detector 9 isinstalled. Since the display by the display control unit 39 differs intiming for each combination, the display direction acquiring unit 41 isable to acquire a combination with which the display had been performedbased on a timing at which the display had been detected. Subsequently,the processing proceeds to step S404.

In step S404, the position information of the detector 9, the partialarea, and the display direction are associated with each other. Theassociating unit 42 associates the position information of the detector9 acquired in step S402 and the “combination of a partial area and adisplay direction” in which the display had been performed in step S401with each other and records the associated position information andcombination in the calibration table. Subsequently, the processingproceeds to step S405.

In step S405, a judgment is made on whether or not there is anuninspected “combination of a partial area and a display direction”. Thecalibration device judges whether or not there is a “combination of apartial area and a display direction” which is an inspection object butwhich is uninspected. When it is judged that there is an uninspectedcombination, the processing proceeds to step S401. In other words, inthe processing shown in the present flow chart, the processing of stepsS401 to S403 is repeated until inspection is performed for all“combinations of a partial area and a display direction” that areobjects of the inspection. On the other hand, when it is judged thatthere is no uninspected combination, the processing shown in the presentflow chart is completed.

<Directional Display in Consideration of Display Area Parallax>

Next, directional display that takes a display area parallax intoconsideration will be described.

Due to the CPU 11 interpreting and executing various programs deployedon the RAM 12, in a similar manner to the information processing devicedescribed with reference to FIG. 11, the information processing device 1for directional display that takes a display area parallax intoconsideration comprises an image information acquiring unit 31, aposition information acquiring unit 32, a user information retainingunit 33, a user information registering unit 34, a user informationupdating unit 35, a user information deleting unit 36, a user operationdetecting unit 37, a display direction determining unit 38, and adisplay control unit 39.

As described earlier, the display direction determining unit 38determines a viewable display direction when the directional displaydevice 14 is viewed from a position of an object based on a searchresult of a calibration table using position information. However, incontrol processing of directional display that takes a display areaparallax into consideration, the display direction determining unit 38determines a display direction for each partial area in the directionaldisplay device 14 based on a search result of a calibration table usingposition information.

As described earlier, the display control unit 39 according to thepresent embodiment controls display contents, display directions, andthe like of the directional display device 14. In the control processingof directional display that takes a display area parallax intoconsideration, for each partial area, the display control unit 39 causescontents to be displayed in the display direction determined by thedisplay direction determining unit 38 for each partial area.

Next, a flow of control processing of directional display that takes adisplay area parallax into consideration will be described withreference to a flow chart. However, since user information managementprocessing is approximately similar to the flow of processing describedwith reference to FIG. 13, a description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 27 is a flow chart showing a flow of processing for performingcontrol processing of directional display that takes a display areaparallax into consideration according to the present embodiment.Moreover, specific contents, a sequence, and the like of the processingmerely represent one example. Favorably, specific processing contents, aprocessing sequence, and the like are appropriately selected.

In steps S501 and S502, current position information of a user isacquired and a “combination of a partial area and a display direction”corresponding to a current position of the user is determined. Thedisplay direction determining unit 38 acquires user position informationof a plurality of users within a range from which the directionaldisplay device 14 is viewable from the user information (step S501). Inaddition, the display direction determining unit 38 searches a“combination of a partial area and a display direction” associated withposition information of a viewpoint position which matches or which isnearest to the position indicated by the user position informationacquired in step S501 from the calibration table and determines thesearched combination as a “combination of a partial area and a displaydirection” of display contents for the user (step S502).

FIG. 28 is a diagram showing a configuration of a partial area tableused in the present embodiment. A “combination of a partial area and adisplay direction” determined for each user may be managed by a partialarea table prepared for each user. The partial area table of each userthat is created in this manner stores a display direction for each userfor each partial area and is updated when a movement of the user istracked and the user information table is updated by user informationmanagement processing.

Moreover, since processing in a case where position information whichmatches or sufficiently approximates (difference is smaller than athreshold) the user position information is not found in the calibrationtable as well as complement processing are approximately similar to stepS202 of the directional display control processing described withreference to FIG. 14, a description thereof will be omitted. Once a“combination of a partial area and a display direction” is determined,processing advances to step S503.

In steps S503 and S504, contents prepared for each user are acquired andthe contents are outputted in a “combination of a partial area and adisplay direction” corresponding to each user. In order to makedifferent contents viewable by each user, the display control unit 39acquires contents prepared for each user from the RAM 12 or theauxiliary storage device 19 (step S503). In addition, for each user, thedisplay control unit 39 outputs contents for the user in the“combination of a partial area and a display direction” determined instep S502 (step S504). Subsequently, the processing shown in the presentflow chart is completed.

A specific example where contents are outputted in a “combination of apartial area and a display direction” corresponding to each user when alenticular directional display device is used will now be described.However, since a concept of a multiple viewpoint content combiner and aconcept of general multiple viewpoint content combination are asdescribed with reference to FIGS. 15 and 16, a description thereof willbe omitted.

FIG. 29 is a diagram showing a concept of multiple viewpoint contentcombination that takes a display area parallax into consideration when alenticular directional display device is used. In the example shown inFIG. 29, the display control unit 39 creates each display directionscreen to be inputted to the multiple viewpoint content combiner byacquiring contents prepared for each user from the RAM 12 or theauxiliary storage device 19, dividing each user screen into partialareas, and distributing the contents to the partial areas of eachdisplay direction screen according to a direction of each user's partialarea table. The multiple viewpoint content combiner having receivedinput of each display direction screen generates a combined screen(multiple viewpoint contents) to be inputted to the lenticulardirectional display device. Due to a combined screen generated in thismanner being inputted to the lenticular directional display device,contents for each user are outputted for each “combination of a partialarea and a display direction” determined in step S502.

Moreover, the control processing of directional display that takes adisplay area parallax into consideration described above may be used incombination with the priority control described with reference to FIG.20. For example, when a user moves into a viewing direction of at leastone partial area of another user, priority control such as hiding thepartial area or hiding an entire display intended for the other user maybe performed.

In addition, by tracking respective positions of the left and right eyesof each user in user information management processing and performingappropriate display with respect to each of the left and right eyes incontrol processing of directional display that takes a display areaparallax into consideration, consistent stereoscopic display can beperformed even when a distance from a display area is small. Thisstereoscopic display is effective even when there are a plurality ofusers.

Furthermore, as a method of creating each user's partial area table, amethod involving arithmetic processing may be used in place of a methodinvolving creating a calibration table by the calibration processingdescribed earlier and generating a user's partial area table byobtaining a display direction of each partial area.

FIG. 30 is a diagram showing an example of an arithmetic processingmethod for creating each user's partial area table from a userinformation table. In addition, FIG. 31 is a diagram showing aconfiguration of each user's partial area table created by an arithmeticprocessing method. If Δd denotes a displacement of a partial area a, b,c, d, or e from a center of a display area, z denotes a distance of auser from the center of the display area, and x denotes a displacementof the user from a center line of the display area, and x and z areknown based on input information from the sensor unit 20 or the like, anangle θ of the user as seen from each partial area can be obtained bythe following mathematical expression.

θ=arctan((x−Δd)/z)

<Applications of Information Processing Device>

Hereinafter, specific examples of applying the information processingdevice 1 according to the present embodiment to various uses will bedescribed. It should be noted that the applications described below aremerely examples and objects of application of the present disclosure arenot limited to the examples described below.

(1) Elevator

By adopting a control device of an elevator as the control device towhich the information processing device 1 according to the presentembodiment is connected, the information processing device 1 can beconfigured as a human interface device for processing an operation forspecifying a destination floor of the elevator, an operation for openingor closing the door of the elevator, and the like.

(2) Car Navigation Device/Audio Device

By adopting a control device of a car navigation device/audio device asthe control device to which the information processing device 1according to the present embodiment is connected, the informationprocessing device 1 can be configured as a human interface device forprocessing a tune selection operation, a volume adjustment operation, amute operation, and the like of the car navigation device/audio device.

(3) Information Kiosk Terminal, Self-Checkout Terminal

By adopting a control device of an information kiosk terminal or aself-checkout terminal as the control device to which the informationprocessing device 1 according to the present embodiment is connected,the information processing device 1 can be configured as a humaninterface device for processing operations performed on the informationkiosk terminal or the self-checkout terminal.

(4) Electrical Appliance

In addition, by adopting a control device of an electrical appliance asthe control device to which the information processing device 1according to the present embodiment is connected, the informationprocessing device 1 can be configured as a human interface device forprocessing operations performed on the electrical appliance.

What is claimed is:
 1. An information processing device comprising: adetector information acquiring unit to acquire detector informationrelating to a position of a detector installed at a predeterminedlocation; a display control unit to cause a display device capable ofvarying contents to be displayed according to display directions toperform display of different contents or display at a different timing,for each display direction; a display direction acquiring unit toacquire a display direction in which display is recognizable from theposition where the detector is installed based on contents or a timingof display by the display device as detected by the detector; and anassociating unit to associate the detector information acquired withrespect to the predetermined location and the display direction witheach other.
 2. The information processing device according to claim 1,wherein the detector information acquiring unit acquires detectorinformation relating to a position of a detector installed in a rangefrom which display by the display device is viewable.
 3. The informationprocessing device according to claim 1, wherein the detector informationincludes information that is acquired using a sensor capable ofrecognizing an object and that indicates a direction of the detectorfrom the sensor.
 4. The information processing device according to claim1, wherein the display control unit performs display control based ondisplay control information that is prepared in advance and thatindicates a relationship between a display direction and displaycontents or a display timing, and the display direction acquiring unitacquires a display direction in which display is recognizable from theposition where the detector is installed based on the display contentsor the display timing by referring to the display control information.5. The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein theinformation processing device is a calibration device for calibrating adisplay direction of a directional input/output device including thedisplay device and a position information acquiring unit that acquiresposition information of an object within a range from which the displaydevice is viewable.
 6. An information processing method in which acomputer connected to a display device capable of varying displaycontents according to display directions executes the steps of:acquiring detector information that is information relating to aposition of a detector installed at a predetermined location; causingthe display device to perform display of different contents or displayat a different timing, for each display direction; acquiring a displaydirection in which display is recognizable from the position where thedetector is installed based on contents or a timing of display by thedisplay device as detected by the detector; and associating the detectorinformation acquired with respect to the predetermined location and thedisplay direction with each other.
 7. A computer-readable non-transitoryrecording medium recorded with a program for causing a computerconnected to a display device capable of varying display contentsaccording to display directions to function as: a detector informationacquiring unit to acquire detector information relating to a position ofa detector installed at a predetermined location; a display control unitto cause a display device to perform display of different contents ordisplay at a different timing, for each display direction; a displaydirection acquiring unit to acquire a display direction in which displayis recognizable from the position where the detector is installed basedon contents or a timing of display by the display device as detected bythe detector; and an associating unit to associate the detectorinformation acquired with respect to the predetermined location and thedisplay direction with each other.